Kalani Santiago-Foster

I am a current PhD student in the Global Development Institute. Supervised by Dr Rose Pritchard and Dr Tim Foster, my research explores how (satellite) data is being used for and changing biodiversity conservation in northern Kenya. My research adopts a multi-site focus, examining: 1) the ways that the conservation software EarthRanger is used for and changing conservation decision-making, 2) Indigenous perspectives of elephant corridors created using satellite and geospatial data, and 3) how people interact with and perceive landscape restoration sites monitored by and depicted through satellite imagery. Through these case studies, my PhD research examines how Indigenous Data Sovereignty can be applied to Global South contexts, along with opportunities, barriers, and conceptual reorientations needed to promote this.

Outside of my PhD, I work as a research assistant for Climate Operation, a youth-led Ugandan environmental organisation dedicated to climate education, research, and activism. Recently, my work with them has focused on examining experiences of conservation-induced displacement on the Ugandan side of Mount Elgon National Park. I also work as a research assistant with Dr Charis Enns (University of Manchester) and Dr Linda Pappagallo (Institute of Development Studies), where I am mapping carbon credit projects in pastoral rangelands globally as part of the International Year of Rangeland and Pastoralists working group on Pastoralists and Carbon Markets.

I am also part of the ESRC-funded Just Earth Observation for Conservation project (JEOC) and am a member of the Resources, Environment and Development (RED) within the Global Development Institute.

Alongside my PhD, I have taught/am teaching on the following modules:

• Current Issues in Global Development 2 (UG1)
• Big Questions in the Digital World (UG2)
• Development Fundamentals (PGT)

My research draws on political ecology, conservation social science, and Indigenous data sovereignty frameworks to examine the coloniality of environmental interventions, particularly biodiversity conservation and the use of data and technology.

Email: [email protected]

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/kalanifoster